A Central Australian cattle farmer left paralysed after a helicopter crash has launched his bid to become the first person to cross the remote Tanami Desert in a wheelchair.

In 2008, Rob Cook was mustering on a remote Northern Territory cattle station when his helicopter suffered an engine failure and fell out of the sky from 200 feet.

The rodeo champion, who spent an agonising seven hours waiting for rescue, was left with no sensation from his head down.

"We hit the ground with that much impact that it broke my back... and as the machine flipped over it bent my neck back," he said.

"I spent three months in intensive care. There was a stage where I didn't know what the outcome was going to be.

"The idea of getting my father to pass on my love to my wife and sons was hard to cope with... but that would be the easy way out.

"Those sorts of thoughts stirred me on throughout the days - I didn't want someone else to pass on the news of the accident."

Mr Cook - a C4 quadriplegic - returned to Alice Springs after seven long months of rehabilitation. Three years later, he is not letting his inability to walk hold him back.

Strapped to a motorised wheelchair, he left his family property Suplejack on Tuesday for the 730km trek to Alice Springs, which he hopes to complete in 24 days.

Mr Cook hopes the strong survival instincts that helped save him from death in the helicopter crash will help him complete the desert trek.

"The road as it always is is rough as guts - corrugated and dusty and in a shocking state," he said.

"But I've lived a pretty rough life. I've had my stomach opened up by cows in the bush, been mauled during rodeos. You find a way to trust that everything's going to be okay."

He says trekking in a motorised wheelchair poses special challenges.

"We're going through three wheelchairs a day. I burn one out first thing in the morning, then we swap to a second one while the first one's on charge," he said.

"So as soon as I wear the batteries out on one chair, I start burning out the next one."

The main aim of Mr Cook's epic desert trek is to raise money so he can complete his Nuffield Scholarship.

The scholarship, which was awarded to Mr Cook this year, allows farmers to travel abroad and share their experiences - a costly exercise for a traveller with special needs.

But he says once the trek idea reached its "honeymoon stage", another objective revealed itself: inspiring other injured Australian farmers to remain productive members of their agricultural communities.

"I want to bring hope to all those Australians with a disability who live and work on farms to not just sit around and think your life is over if you have had an accident," he said.

"[In hospital] I saw people struggling with their injuries and I made a conscious effort to never go down that road.

"But it's just an injury, we're still the same people even though we can't move our bodies.

"If I can inspire people with any type of injury to get out there and still chase their dreams and still have those dreams then it will be worth it."

Policeman Luke Bevan and a dog called Chase will trek "every aching inch" alongside Mr Cook, who says while the road is tough, the views are spectacular.

"This is one of the best seasons that the Northern Territory has seen in a decade," he said.

"The country's come to life - the wattle is flowering, the desert roses are in bloom, the bush is alive."